Tuesday, October 18, 2016

The summer flew by and now we are enjoying autumn. My brother brought an armful of lovely bittersweet branches, so appropriate for the season. I wasted no time in decorating the mantel!

Speaking of the fireplace, we have made some changes during the summer. This is what it looked like last year...

and earlier this summer... BEFORE..

and AFTER...

We had the dark brick for 30 years...yes, 30! ...so it was time for a change. The room is considerably brighter. We had the walls painted in a blue-grey color and I am still looking for suitable art for the walls, and new window valances are in the works.

We wanted a whitewash appearance to the brick so we used chalk paint diluted, and a small roller to skim the surface, leaving the indentations more exposed. The most difficult part was painting the grout lines.

Just one more picture...our 4 foot tall vase with summer flowers... I miss them already!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

We don't usually think of fruit cake in April since it is traditionally a Christmas sweet, but I wasn't feeling well enough to bake in November or December. Now I wanted to use up the dried and candied fruit which has been taking up space in our extra refrigerator.
I always watch Anna Olsen's baking series and she demonstrated making your own candied orange peel and used it in a fruit cake.
It all looked so delicious, and the result proved it! The peel is so fragrant and adds a fresh flavour to the cake.